Malaysian man who was married 9 times faces wife assault case again

Malaysia’s system for tracking repeat domestic abusers is under scrutiny after police said a man accused of assaulting his pregnant wife until she miscarried had been married nine times and was free on bail while appealing a 10-year jail sentence for attacking another spouse who was previously expecting. The 43-year-old suspect, named in local media as Rosmaini Abd Raof, was remanded for seven days in Kedah on Wednesday after police arrested him at a homestay in Alor Setar, the northern state’s capital. He is accused of attacking his 39-year-old wife last week at a house in Ambangan Heights, Sungai Petani, leaving her with serious injuries and causing her to lose a 12-week pregnancy. Kedah police chief Adzli Abu Shah said the case began with a report from the victim’s brother, who was informed by hospital staff that his sister had allegedly been attacked by her husband. The victim later lodged her own police report on Sunday after complaining of severe pain. Police said the case had been reclassified as voluntarily causing grievous hurt, an offence that carries a maximum punishment of 20 years’ imprisonment, a fine or caning. “The suspect is believed to currently have three wives and has been married nine times,” Adzli told a press conference on Wednesday, according to state news agency Bernama. “He would seek partners with stable jobs, as he himself does not have steady employment.” All his current and former wives were civil servants, Adzli said. The suspect has 11 children and four previous criminal records involving assault, voluntarily causing hurt, concealing a birth and criminal intimidation, he added. The case has shocked Malaysia not only because of the alleged violence, but because police have confirmed that the suspect had already been convicted in another wife assault case in the southern state of Johor. In that case, Rosmaini was sentenced to 10 years in prison for causing grievous hurt to his then-pregnant ex-wife, Jahidah Nordin, in Larkin, Johor Bahru, in May 2021. Jahidah, a former government employee, was left with severe injuries and remains in need of continuous care. She gave birth by caesarean section in November 2021. The Johor Bahru High Court upheld the 10-year sentence last November, but allowed a stay of execution pending an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Local media reported that Rosmaini’s bail was raised to 25,000 ringgit (US$6,305). Warning signs Nazreen Nizam, executive director of the Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO), said that the case exposed “a serious failure in Malaysia’s protection system”, adding that authorities were still treating domestic violence as isolated incidents instead of recognising patterns of coercive control, repeat offending and escalating harm. “When a man has previous abuse records involving wives or partners, and is still able to move through new relationships without stronger monitoring, risk assessment or intervention, the system is not protecting women early enough,” Nazreen said. She added that the crux of the matter was whether police, prosecutors, courts, welfare agencies, and religious authorities saw the big picture when Rosmaini’s pattern of spousal violence was already clear. “A woman should not have to be severely harmed before the system decides that a perpetrator is dangerous. Where there is a known history of violence, especially against wives or intimate partners, the state has a responsibility to treat that history as a serious warning sign, not background information.” Jaskirath Kaur Sohanpal, a gender equality advocate, said the case reflected how violence against women was too often treated as a “domestic dispute”, even when there were signs of coercive control and repeated abuse. “It is the responsibility of the authorities to recognise this pattern and do their part to interrupt the cycle of violence to avoid tragedies like this,” she said. Survivors were often at greatest risk when trying to leave an abusive relationship while Malaysian society needed to recognise that abuse was not always physical, with jealousy, surveillance and “protectiveness” often normalised as signs of love rather than warning signs, she added. “The normalisation of these behaviours which are warning signs are where the cycle of violence begins, which then escalates to physical violence to the point of death if not interrupted.” Speaking in response to Rosmaini’s case on Wednesday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri said that police recorded 7,391 domestic violence cases in the country last year, up from 7,116 in 2024 and 5,507 in 2023. “These are reported cases, but the actual number could be higher as some incidents may go unreported,” Nancy said. Some victims remained silent until violence became critical, while others withdrew complaints because of fear, threats, financial dependence or lack of shelter, she added. We want cases to be resolved more quickly Nancy Shukri, minister for women, family and community development Nancy said her ministry would submit proposals to strengthen legal action and create an early-warning mechanism for repeat domestic violence offenders. The ministry is currently not authorised to record data on repeat offenders, and this makes cross-agency cooperation necessary, according to Nancy. “We want cases to be resolved more quickly, and from an enforcement perspective, we are looking at ways to tighten and strengthen implementation,” she said after a coordination meeting with police, health and judicial authorities on domestic violence cases. Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act provides for protection orders. But activists have long argued that enforcement depends on how quickly police, welfare officers, courts and community institutions identify risk and act together. WAO’s Nazreen said the latest Kedah case should force authorities to ask tough questions about repeat violence. “The failure here is not just one man’s violence,” she said. “It is the failure of institutions to stop repeat harm when the risk was foreseeable.”

Malaysian man who was married 9 times faces wife assault case again

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The man, who is accused of attacking his pregnant wife until she miscarried, would ‘seek partners with stable jobs’, a police chief says

The man, who is accused of attacking his pregnant wife until she miscarried, would ‘seek partners with stable jobs’, a police chief says